Google’s self-driving car company Waymo is retiring its iconic “Firefly” self-driving vehicles from testing fleets after three years in service. The Firefly, which were widely known as “the koala cars,” are being replaced by Waymo’s expanding fleet of Chrysler Pacifica plug-in hybrid autonomous minivans. This transition comes as Waymo moves toward commercial availability, including an “early rider program” in Phoenix, Arizona.

For years, Detroit has produced very little to be proud of. In search of the all-American auto hero, journalists and Wall Street alike turn to Tesla and Google. Both are very light on unit sales, but big on lofty promises. Tesla promises to save the world from suffocation – once people buy their pricey battery-operated cars en masse. Google promises to do away with the biggest problem in the car business – the driver. The myopic observer only has to look as far as the world’s largest car market to watch the hopes vanish in a cloud of Beijing-sized smog. [Continue Reading]